It’s clear that the Olympics did nothing to mitigate general hockey hysteria. Now that the NHL regular season has resumed here’s a chance to show off your knowledge of NHL history.
At the end of each game, three stars are awarded to the game’s most important contributors. What’s the origin of the three stars? How are the three stars selected?
[ed. note: What do the stars even MEAN? Can we start there? Thanks. Carry on.]
Please leave your answers in the comments. Draft Day Suit bragging rights are on the line, currently held by our last winner, Melissa.
About the author
ClumberKim is a sports geek. The die was cast early, by age 8, when Kim told anyone who would listen that she wanted to be the Boston Bruins statistician when she grew up. She could rattle off the roster by number, position, or hometown. Her sports interests are diverse, ranging from figure skating to football. She loves to watch golf, read books about golf, and trash talk golf, but she has never swung a club. The Fantasia Gardens course at Disney World doesn't count. Her participation in sports is limited to tennis in high school, rugby in college (where she excelled in the third half), and pitching endlessly to her baseball-loving son.
No clue but I’m now intrigued.
Let us spread the lame ass question far and wide!
(Yeah, I just realized what I wrote. Sorry.)
Not sure of the other stuff, but I think the media chooses the stars of the game.
Ewwwww. Also, I have no idea.
Lori is correct. The media chooses the stars at each game.
So who knows how the whole thing got started?
I think it was started by Hockey Night in Canada. Since I used to watch it in French, they were the trois etoiles (spelling? I can’t spell english words, so I shouldn’t be branching out). The sponsor had a product that was three stars something, I would guess beer, but that isn’t right. Maybe something with cars, spark plugs or oil?
While most places start with the third star to build the suspense, I remember them announcing the first start first, etc. Kind of a let down for number 3.
Isn’t it an MVP thing-like the best players of the game? But it is sponsored (or was) by an advertiser.
Oh now I have to be specific about how it got started. ARGH…seem to recall it was brand building for a gas station or something. Trying to think back long and hard to business case examples lol.
Suzy and Julie are both circling around the answer so I’m willing to give it to them.
Here’s the scoop, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_stars_%28ice_hockey%29 There’s a lot more detail on the Wikipedia page but these are the salient details:
“Three stars were first awarded in the 1936–37 NHL season as a means for Imperial Oil (Hockey Night in Canada’s then new principal sponsor) to advertise its “Three Star” brand of gasoline. In addition, it was seen as a way to promote the game’s best stars of the time. After the sponsorship ended in 1976, the tradition remained on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship hockey show.”
Oh OIL! You know here in Texas oil and gas are combine industries so…surely it counts, my answer. lol Oh wait, should have read on! it WAS for gasoline! And GOAL for the Texan!
So do Suzy and I get shared bragging rights or something?
Yes Julie, you and Suzy can share bragging rights. She shares well and generally plays nicely with others.